Man who assaulted bedbound victim in his Accrington home jailed

A man who broke into the bungalow of a bedbound man and carried out a sickening assault on him with weapons has been jailed.

It happened at a property in Accrington on 27^th August 2022 when the victim, who is in his late 40s, awoke to find there was someone fiddling with the window next to his bed.

39-year-old Daniel Laming climbed through the window and with the victim attempting to defend himself, Laming put his hands on him.

The victim pressed his lifeline alarm in an attempt to summon help and while he shouted police, Laming began strangling him, punching him and put a cushion on his face.

Laming then went into the kitchen and returned with knives and a frying pan. He then continued the assault, and said: “What is wrong with you? Die, just die.”

All this could be heard by the operator on the Lifeline call, who called the police.

Officers attended and found Laming crouching down in the bedroom. Upon seeing them he ran out the back of the property but was quickly arrested in an adjacent garden ginnel.

Laming, of Wye Knot, Bakewell, Derbyshire, was charged with committing grievous bodily harm with intent and criminal damage.

Appearing in the dock at Preston Crown Court earlier this year where he pleaded guilty to burglary with Intent to commit GBH.

Laming returned to the same court on Monday where he was jailed for four years.

In an impact statement to the court, the victim wrote: “I have moved house. I did not feel safe anymore in the house where he broke in. I felt panic in the house, it was my favourite house and I felt safe there until he broke in and attacked me. I have moved to another house but I still don't feel safe here. I panic that someone is going to come through the window again and attack me.

“What happened to me has destroyed me. I wish I would have died on the night he broke in and attacked me. I do not look forward to anything anymore. My family is so worried for me and my uncle has come to stay with me from Birmingham and is here as much as he can be as they are so worried about me, as well as family in Iran being worried. I am bedbound and cannot go and see relatives.

“I wake up nearly every night at around 2:30-3am and I cannot get back to sleep. I know that it was around 2:45am when he came in and I fought for my life so I wake at around the time it happened regularly.”

He continued: “I used to go out with my carers into the town centre when I could in my wheelchair. It was difficult to do but I used to enjoy it but I have no interest in doing anything now.

“I am frightened and worried all the time. I am expecting something to happen all the time. I have moved house and I don't like the area but I felt I had to move as I didn't feel safe, but I still don't feel safe having moved. I thought it would help but it hasn't. He has taken what little quality of life I had away from me.”

DC Vicky Heys, from Lancashire Police, said: “This was a sickening and sinister attack on a vulnerable man in his own home. I shudder to think of the fear he felt as he was desperately screaming for help.

“While it’s not for me to comment on the sentence handed down to Laming, I am pleased he has been held accountable for his completely unacceptable and cowardly behaviour.”